Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Last Tuesday was my birthday and I decided to take the kids to see the big bugs at the Arboretum. My mom renewed our memebershil as a birthday present and it had been a while since we'd had time to go with the move.

There were ten different bugs and we got to see them all. Here is the bee and hive:

There were three different ants. This was one.

The damselfly:

Grasshopper:

Daddy long legs:

Praying mantis:

Assassin bug:

Dragonfly:

Spider and web:

And lastly the butterfly:

We had a picnic lunch before leaving.

And sent daddy some selfies.

It was a fun morning. The kids napped on the way home then we made a target run to get some things.

We came home and I started on dinner. It was a spaghetti squash Pad Thai. It was phenomenal. Only bad thing was when I went to cut the limes I sliced my finger open instead. Had to pause dinner while I waited for Kyle to get home. Didn't lose much blood because I immediately put pressure on it to close it up. But I did get really light headed, nauseous, and felt like I was going to pass out. It's been a long week of finger care and modifying daily activities but today it is finally getting back to normal and I was able to use it in ways I haven't been able to for a week.

Monday, August 22, 2016

We've been getting good use of our membership to the children's museum the past week. We went today and also last week. They are closing down the StPaul location December - April so gotta go while we can. And Isaac really enjoyed the Thomas exhibit.

So did the girls. This was today.

The ant hill is closing on Wednesday and never coming back! :-( there are many exhibits closed for remodeling right now and most are coming back so it's a big deal the ant hill will be gone.

This was last Thursday in the technology exhibit which was actually already closed today. It's kinda bare bones at the museum which is why we were able to get 16 months for the price of 12. But the kids still have fun.

Thursday in the trains.

The girls were pushing each other in this cart it was pretty cute.

And last week we stopped in to get our CSA on the drive home. Here are the kids eating tomatoes like they're apples.

We have since changed around the van seating. Mary is now officially turned forward facing and her seat is where isaacs was and Isaac is right behind me now.

We picked up a chair on Sunday and I had to take all the car seats out to haul it home. The van was a mess and needed a major overhaul. It looks brand new again!

Sunday, August 14, 2016

Our CSA has been loading us up with squash and zucchini. And of course a new fresh dozen eggs every-week. It's been wonderful. Working on finding kid friendly recipes, unfortunately it's like pulling teeth trying to get my oldest to eat anything 'egg' related... well besides cupcakes. He did however take a bite and ate it! My middle kiddo loved them, but she loves eggs. So I will venture to say they are for the most part kid approved.

This recipe is similar to my previous posted Zucchini Egg Cups, however I used more veggies for this and I think they turned out better. The nutmeg gives it more flavor too.

I used my spiralizer to cut up the squash. Threw in some diced scallions then covered with beaten egg mixed with nutmeg. So simple.

Sprinkle some Parmesan on before you pop it in the oven, or whatever cheese you have. Back for 15-20 minutes and enjoy!

Directions
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Spiralize squash and divide evenly into 12 muffin cups. Evenly distribute diced scallion (greens and whites). Crack eggs into dish, add in seasonings, beat until combined making sure to incorporate lots of air to help eggs get fluffy while baking. Pour eggs evenly into 12 muffin cups. Each cup equals one egg. Top with a sprinkle of cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Fix count:
1 quiche muffin = 1/4 green, 1/2 red

Honestly I ate like 4 or 5 and counted it as 2 reds, 1 green, 1/2 blue containers

Saturday, August 13, 2016

Last weekend Kyle got my lower pantry shelf installed so I was finally able to get it organized! Feels so good to have usable space below

We also picked up a new door for the garage. The door that was there was swollen and slanted and wasn't able to fully open. We changed direction of the swing and installed it straight - even though the wall is crooked as heck... that's another project way down the road: getting the garage re-drywalled and fixed. We now have a nice functioning door. We didn't want this style of door but the other was way on the top shelf and she gave us a large discount if we would just take this one verses waiting around with three wild kids while they fetched the other. We were okay with that.

That same home depot visit we picked up Kyle's much belated Christmas present. A new tool table. Now the tool room is also on it's way to being organized. Got about halfway through... that's life with kids can't fully get something done without having to tend to caretaker life.

Here is the before photo of the tool room:

And now:

We picked up a shelving unit at Costco a couple weeks ago and I finally got to putting it together during nap one day. It felt so good to get some of the boxes through. Still have a little pile in the middle of the room but at least it's not overwhelming me every-time I walk through that room like before.

Here is the before photo: this is what it looked like when we moved in:

This is a progress photo:

And then now waiting to be finished up:

Friday morning we had some fun entertainment. Many of the sidewalk sections had been tagged for repair and today was the day our street was getting tended to. We didn't have any pieces on our property but many of our neighbors did. We started watching from the girls room upstairs.

Then made our way down for a front row viewing. Here the worker is using a big blade to chop up the roots of this tree that had caused the sidewalk to buckle. Poor tree, I hope it doesn't harm it from getting it's roots shredded. Sure looks good now though.

They were all pretty excited about the cement mixer making it's way down the street.

Speaking of cement, earlier in the week I got around to filling the cracks in our front steps. Wish the cement caulk was a little darker and blended in better, but hopefully over time it will get dirty and blend in. Better to look funky and sealed than to be letting water seep in and cause more damage.

Some other odds and ends tasks included:

-Installed a keypad for the garage door

-Picked up some wire baskets to help organize our closet

-Installed a ceiling fan in Isaac's room

-Signed a contract with the stucco guys to get two windows repaired and the balcony joists assessed and flashed properly. They will cut open the stucco siding check the cantilevered joists, repair any damage if they find it (hopefully they don't which will reduce our overall cost!), patch up the stucco and install flashing to each beam. This will eliminate any further water damage that is apparent on the inside wall of the family room. They should hopefully be doing this around mid October.

-Having the security system people come take a look at our existing system and get us set up

On top of all the house work, I've dropped Isaac from his old preschool, found him a new one, enrolled the girls in tumble tots for the fall (super excited!) and kept everyone alive and fed. Busy days these are, wouldn't trade it for the world though.

Oh, and I planted this plant that I picked up at a plant sale in June. It went right in the hole that the for sale sign was staked in.

Sunday, August 7, 2016

After much shuffling around I finally found a spot for my spices. At the old house I had them above the stove but I hated how they would come toppling down on my head when I tried to sort through them. After buying a few racks and returning them these from the container store were finally the winning ticket. Had to order the rest online because they were out in store and took FOREVER to ship!

I continued to organize my craft area. I wanted to get all my sewing supplies in the little wooden table. It has skinny drawers so that meant finding a new solution for my thread storage.

Loved this idea I found on Pinterest for keeping the bobbins organized.

And these boxes I found on Amazon but bought at joanns with a coupon. They are the perfect size for the drawers AND stackable!

Monday we had the old fridge that was left in the house picked up and recycled from our electric company. This meant I could get the garage cleared out, well at least one side open to park in. We had also sold the bookcases over the weekend. There are two in this pic but they got picked up later that day.

Tuesday Isaac had his last sport night, it was a make up from when his soccer got rained out. We hit up the park afterwards where everyone did some great climbing. Then finished with the splash pad so I could skip bath night. Was just me all week since Kyle was out of town for work so I was taking any shortcut I could get!

Tuesday evening Isaac stayed up and help me label containers for the pantry.

Wednesday evening I worked on continuing to organize my craft and sewing area. It's coming together and almost finished. Just a few more tubs to go through and empty out.

Thursday it was time to give Harpo a trim. The clippers were so dull I just did what I could and didn't attempt to trim up his skirt. Will get to that later. Also got his nails trimmed down, poor boy they were in bad shape.

Friday I actually got some photos hung on the walls throughout the house.

And that evening I got these cute stickers on the girls wall

Saturday I started to tackle the Windows. Got 17 out of 30 cleaned. The front part of the house has the tilt windows so it was easy to clean both sides however the crossbars don't come out so a pain to clean around those. It's like cleaning 9-12 tiny windows with each window!

The back part of the house windows don't tilt out so I didn't get the outsides cleaned. But the cross hairs come out so it was easy to clean the whole window.

We also made a huge trip to Home Depot on Saturday and got a new door to put in the basement, ceiling fans for the kids rooms, and Kyle got a new tool table to start organizing the tool room!

The kids also got to participate in the fun little workshop. Mary enjoyed banging the hammer while Emma like putting the nails in every little hole. They made a skateboard pencil holder. We'll have to try and paint them another day.

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